Friday, February 22, 2008

Mmmmmbac

Watching the stock market today. It did its usual - for February - head fake early on by zigging in the morning and then zagging in the afternoon. But this time it decided to soar 200 Dow points in the final 45 minutes of trading.  Another fake! Imagine that.

Usually, it has only been one reversal per day to mess us up. Today we were blessed with two. 

The catalyst? Bond insurer Ambac is getting a capital injection. The day is saved!  We can resume issuing tons of bonds (investment grade, please) and the credit crunch is over.  Right.

I fail to see how the saving of one company can elicit the second coming. It looks more like a relief rally that there was some good news of some kind. Better than more write-downs.

But through it all, the major indices remain in their trading ranges. New 52-week lows remained in tripled digits. Dead cats for the financials.

I'm still watching just in case this event has legs as stranger things have happened. 


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